


In which Eve accidentally starts a BAME support group in MI6

by soufflegirl91



Series: 007 Fest Creations [7]
Category: James Bond (Craig movies), James Bond - All Media Types
Genre: Gen, MI6 so white
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-10
Updated: 2019-07-10
Packaged: 2020-06-26 00:21:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 493
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19756771
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/soufflegirl91/pseuds/soufflegirl91
Summary: At MI6, like Cambridge, like Roedean, Eve was sick of having to prove her place in the room because of the colour of her skin.





	In which Eve accidentally starts a BAME support group in MI6

**Author's Note:**

> Cross-posted to Tumblr for 007Fest Character of Colour Day. 
> 
> I'm not massively happy with this one, but it's better than nothing.

Eve grew a thick skin when she was very young. The daughter of Jamaican immigrants attending Roedean on a scholarship, she was used to having to prove her place in the room because of the colour of her skin. She proved them all wrong, getting straight As at GCSE and A-Level and continuing on to Cambridge to study Human, Social and Political Sciences. Expecting that she’d already proved herself just by getting in, she was disappointed to find out that Cambridge was no better than Roedean.

Making it through three more years of entitled white people, Eve knew what to expect when she was tipped to apply for a job with MI6. Sure enough, her interview panel was a group of middle-aged white men (despite the rumours that there was a woman at the top). Her training cohort was slightly more diverse – the most diverse cohort in MI6 history. Out of 20 potential recruits, that meant Eve, Fajid, Shalini and Curtis were “the most diverse recruits MI6 had ever seen.”

If it sounds pathetic, it’s because it was.

Something had to be done.

Once she made it on to the training course, she started asking questions here and there. What was the ethnic make-up of MI6? 92% white, but falling. Government diversity targets left no department behind (Government diversity targets were a laugh, but progress was progress). Some departments proved more diverse than others, but not good enough.

Slowly, Eve built her network. Through the years of training, placements and on to becoming a full-blown field agent, she made connections. Monthly nights out became a regular thing, and if one person was thinking of applying for promotion, Eve could suggest colleagues to help that person prepare. The odd group lunch, an email now and then, nothing too big.

A change of regime in Q branch bought another ally. When Q defected from GCHQ, he asked his old friend Rani from MI5 to come over and be his second in command. Eve and R got on like a house on fire – R had been at Imperial with Q, and had much the same academic experience as Eve. Apparently, the tech fields were more diverse than most of the Civil Service, but what they had in cultural diversity, they lacked in equality.

When Eve was on the brink of being tipped to become the next double oh, everything went to hell. Shooting Bond off that bridge in Turkey dashed those hopes stone dead, and Eve retreated behind a desk.

There was some hope, however. After the dust settled from Skyfall and Eve made a space for herself at the new M’s right hand, he called her in for a meeting.

“I’ve been hearing rumours that you started a diversity support network. Why not make it official?”

And that is how Eve found herself planning seminars as well as monthly drinks. Next month, she was meeting up with MI5 and GCHQ to plan an outreach programme.


End file.
